DraftKings

Does anyone else feel like the baseball season ended two weeks ago? Then again I’m in Boston, baseball season ended around the 4th of July this year. So maybe I’m not the best judge of these things. I am a pretty awesome wet t-shirt contest judge, though, just in case you know anyone looking. It doesn’t have to be a large contest either. I’m more than happy to work with single participant contests. I also own a hose and have a sprinkler head with several settings. It might even be 6 or 7 settings! Just an FYI, and now you know, and as G.I. Joe said in their PSA’s back in my childhood, knowing is half the battle. Those little men were indeed American heroes. It’s good to have heroes and everyday on DraftKings I pick a new one amongst the fray of pitching options. Sometimes my heroes let me down, much like 90% of the Minnesota Vikings fans under the age of 70. Other times they step up and fight for whats right, and by whats right I mean making me money. (Enter Collin McHugh on a bad ass Harley kicking up dust) Damn, Collin McHugh ($9,700) is baseball’s Anti-Hero, just riding Harley’s and going over jumps while he smokes Lucky Strike non-filters. BTW kids, if you’re ever wondering what the most bad ass Cigarettes are, it’s forever Lucky Strike non-filters. Your Grandfather smoked them in his foxhole at the Battle of the Bulge and so should you! In all seriousness, though, McHugh has been awesome this season and it’s not smoke and mirrors either. He’s supported his 2.66 ERA with a 3.07 FIP and a xFIP 3.13. Pair those numbers up with a 9.14 K/9 and an ERA of 1.50 in August and September and you got a Turnip! Yeah that’s not what I meant to say. I think my calculator is a bigot and obviously doesn’t like Irish people. What I really meant to say is that he’s an Ace….maybe even a Masta Ace? With a matchup against the Seattle Mariners at home I think he’s a great buy in all DraftKings formats. So pour yourself a shot of Jameson and give this Mick some run.

Do other parts of the country say ‘yous’? Maybe it’s because I have South Jersey roots but I say it a lot. I also say “jawn” more than I probably should and I end up sounding like a crazy person out here in rural Ohio. Yous see that jawn? Yous see Yusmeiro Petit‘s jawn ($7,100) on that DraftKings jawn? No, Mike, we have no idea what the hell you are talking about. Well, let me explain this jawn to yous…

Petit has been solid since joining the Giants’ rotation aside from the hiccup in Colorado. We’ll forgive most pitchers for a hiccup in Colorado though. Take out that start, and the 29-year-old right-hander has thrown 22 innings and has only allowed five earned runs while striking out 26 batters. That’s prettay prettay good. It’s also not counting the 4+ innings of long relief with 5 Ks just before he entered the rotation. Petit draws the Padres in San Diego today. The Pads have a ho-hum 84 wRC+ against righties this season to go along with a 22% strikeout percentage (6th highest in baseball). As a team San Diego is slashing .234/.303/.344 in September. It’s a nice matchup for the price any way you slice it.

It’s that time of year again! No, I’m not talking about back to school, or even football season. It’s that time of year when baseball teams clinch playoff berths and then get wastey-faced while wearing swimming goggles. Basically, everyone on the team acts like Michael Phelps at a frat party (sans the bong hits). Baseball is awesome when you’re good. The hangover from these celebrations usually results in teams resting their regulars the next day (unless there are still home field advantage implications), so keep tabs on the champagne getting sprayed in the clubhouse. You don’t want to roster any of those hitters the next day, and it’s a pretty good idea to pounce on the opposing starting pitcher. I don’t think any magic numbers will be in play for a few days, so let’s put the diabolical schemes aside for now, and focus on some GPP value plays for tonight.

With roughly 11 games left in the MLB season, picking players to write about can get tricky over at DraftKings. Why is it tricky? Well for starters look at the Nationals lineup last night – not one player in that lineup is a regular starter. On the flip side it can help you find value in pitching, which is always a plus. Some guys you wouldn’t generally use at pitcher become more appealing. The only problem with this for writers is we usually write our articles well before lineups are posted, but thankfully there is twitter and a comments section.

The commenters can already get going with the harassment. It’s 4 days until Summer ends, but as a sports fan, we all know that once the NFL season begins the Summer is over. Pshh! Details… We’ve already obsessed over wOBA and splits all year so we may as well just admit our Moneyballin ways ya’ll. What we haven’t fully admitted is our addiction to the aces. Well, Beanetown went all in with pitchers and traded away the big bat. I’m following suit today and spending about half my salary cap on the mound. The key is that Billy assesses the landscape and takes the best value available. Today, the values aren’t standing on the hump. I’m spending on the mound and putting together a strong lineup without paying. I’m confident that my late season discount hitters will have a much better value than the A’s of late. That’s right, I make big time predictions! I got the O’s in the East. They haven’t won the division since Cal Ripken was playing… I wonder what his latest streak is by the way. Post your guesses in the comment section? Yes, do that.

If you like winning, other things you should do include checking in with the Stream-O-Nator, HitterTron and the DFSBot. If you like winning and your favorite prize is money you should head over to DraftKings for some late season cleanup on the guys who are trying to fix their big losses from the last 5+ months. Those guys don’t read Razzball or have problems that should be addressed by a non-profit whose last name is Anonymous. That’s not your problem. Don’t feel bad. Money ain’t got no face! Am I heartless? The doctors say I have one AND it works…

What a world we live in. Just a couple of months ago, me telling you an Oakland stack would be a good idea would’ve lead to you rolling your eyes, giving me your best Charlie Sheen, and ignored the rest of what I had to say because I was clearly not giving any info others weren’t already doling out. YO GUYS LISTEN TO ME, KING FELIX IS A MUST START TODAY. Sheeeiittt, like we don’t know a top pitcher is a good get for the day. But again, days go by and still I think of the times when the Athletics were the stack du jour. You couldn’t tune into any write up about DFS without being told to at least throw in a Brandon Moss or a Josh Donaldson. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Not only have the A’s relinquished the lead in the AL West, they’re now scratching and clawing just to stay the lead wild card for the AL. But that’s what happens when guys like Moss hit 21 bombs in the first half and follow up in the second half with only three while hitting .178. Yes, it’s been that brutal. Why did they trade away Cespedes again? Oh well, what’s done is done. But that definitely makes them a nice stack on a day in which they should be good but probably won’t be looked upon given their offensive struggles. Fair warning here: this stack call ain’t for the faint of heart. The Athletics have scored more than 10 runs just twice in the last two months. This is an offense that’s been giving us more struggle face than Rob Ryan could ever muster. But I will be building an Athletics stack for GPPs today and yes it will have it some Donaldson and Moss. Heck, it might even get a Coco Crisp, Sam Fuld, Josh Reddick, and/or Adam Dunn. We all know everyone is gonna be on the COLvsLAD game in terms of stacks but that doesn’t always win you the tourney calls. You have to think outside the box and the Athletics have become just that. Oh and I guess we should talk a bit about why: Nick Tepesch. Hrm, you need more than that? Well what about his .378 wOBA away from Texas. Yes, he’s worse on the road than he is at home. Hard to do, I know, but given the Rangers season we can’t be all that surprised. But now that I’ve given you an off the wall stack, let’s get down to business. Here’s how I’d play today’s DK slate the rest of the way…

No, that’s not a racist title. C’mon, really? Why would I go there? Besides, ‘Alfredo The Dark’ doesn’t even sound racist. Actually, sounds like your character name when you go out LARP’ing. Lemme guess, you start with a +5 in magic and wit but are low in power and physical combat. And, duh, you have black magic and not white magic. Am I nailing this? Mmm hmmm, I see your 20 sided die in your hand there. Please tell me it’s at least steam punk genre. Loved the Lord of the Rings but really don’t care if you’re out here battling orcs. Bores me. BTW, have you ever thought about the Civil War re-enactment? Totally LARP’ing there. Yeah, yeah, you’re a history buff. Well then go read the damn book. No need to grow out the handlebar mustache and go clean out your musket to enjoy a little American history…but yeah, what the hell? That got off track fast. I blame you and your talk of tinctures. Nah, I’m just alluding to the childhood fave of anyone not young enough to quote Lil’ Wayne. So basically, nobody’s gonna get it. Show was off and on for like 10 years…shut up, it’s my childhood! Moving on…what I’m trying to get at is, Alfredo Simon has been a bit of a bear to own in regular fantasy but he’s extremely enjoyable for we daily fantasy folk. You see, these young Cubbies…well, if you caught my last Stroman call you’d understand. They’re still learning how to play baseball the right way. Sure, they’re exciting to watch and it’s great to think about the future but most of their veteran bats are done for the year due to injury and what’s left is a group that’s K’ing at an alarming rate: 28.3% heading into Sunday, to be exact. That’s just 2% less than the Twins and they’ve faced Chris Sale this past past week. And in the end, Simon keeps the ball down reasonably well wtih a 1.62 GB/FB ratio so the ball shouldn’t be flying out of the park on him. In the end, this is a bit of a punt play to give room for those 10+ K pitchers because in the end they are worth it this Monday, believe me. Speaking of, let’s move on and get to them, shall we? So without further ado, here’s Monday’s hot takes on the DK slate…

Throughout the year I’ve learned many things about Daily Fantasy baseball. Avoid lefties against the Rockies at Coors, never trust a Nationals pitchers, and always target hitters on a hot streak. With the last lesson in mind I’ve complied a lineup entirely filled with smoking hot bats. This strategy has been wildly successful for me all year, and typically is a great way to get a potent lineup on a limited budget. A good way to figure this out is to take a deeper look at the stats over the last two weeks. I’m about to give you a lesson in my native tongue of Stat Geek.

There are a few metrics that are particularly telling and I personally feel hold more weight in daily fantasy. My two favorites are wOBA and wRC+. I was put onto wOBA earlier in the year by the one and only Sky, and I have to say it was a revaluation. wOBA if you don’t know is based on linear weights and measures a players offensive contribution per plate appearance. Huh? I know right? I stole that definition from wiki. To put it in layman’s terms they apply a value to each positive offensive contribution whether it be a walk, a single, home run, etc and divide that total by the number of plate appearances. I have to be honest it’s not the only number I look at, but I now put more weight into that particular statistic than I do batting average, OBP, or OPS. It’s a great way to get a quick snapshot of a player’s overall performance without having to dig through stats for hours. Saving time on your homework is a huge advantage when playing daily fantasy. Of course you could just use Rudy’s DFSbot but my opening would have been really short.

New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 10 teamer of Razzball writers and friends to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care! If you still feel helpless and lonely, be sure to check theDFSBot for your daily baseball plays.

Jeff Locke ($7,900) is a solid play today in DraftKings contests with a good matchup against the Chicago Cubs. Jeff’s great-great-grandfather John defined the “self” through the continuity of consciousness. Cool stuff – but all I really need Jeff to do is pitch seven or so strong innings with a decent strikeout total. Against the Cubs it really shouldn’t be much of an uphill climb. Chicago owns the worst strikeout percentage in the major leagues against left-handed pitching (25.3%). Sprinkle in the fact that they will be without both Anthony Rizzo and Jorge Soler this weekend and we’ve got a recipe for success at under $8K. Locke is coming off a great start as well. The 23-year-old left-hander worked the Phillies for seven innings with nine strikouts and only three hits allowed on Monday.

There are some tempting (and ‘spensive) names on the SP menu tonight, but as always, my eyes gravitate to my boy, Mat Latos ($8,800). He draws the Brewers at Miller Park tonight, a place where he has failed to earn a W in 6 career starts. That comes to an end tonight. Latos is due to pop his cherry at the home of the beer makers. He has pitched well against Milwaukee this season, registering a 2.57 ERA and .184 BAA in 21 IP. The Brewers also look like they are going into choke mode as the season winds down. They haven’t scored more scored more than 4 runs in their last 6 games, and they now find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture, looking in. Latos is going to spin a gem on the cheap, and if you want to find some other undervalued options to pair with him, look no further than beyond the sales pitch below.

New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 10 team league of Razzball writers and friends to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care! If you still feel helpless and lonely, be sure to check the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays.